By us, we mean our home state of Vermont. And by sued, we mean sued. By DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors. Along with Aston Martin, Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Maserati, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota via The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM).

Vermont has been attempting to give itself the power to create its own internal emissions standards for new vehicles, Ã la California’s CARB. It’s the first one of nine states to do so, and the new standards would cut emissions by 40 percent by 2016. To comply, automakers would have to boost fuel economy to 40 mpg for passenger cars, but sued to stop rules from taking effect in three states. GM, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. filed sworn affidavits to have a closed trial to protect “trade secrets.”

The trial started Tuesday the April 10 in U.S. District court in Burlington, and the angry, litigious hornets of the AIAM are pulling out all the stops to derail it before it gets started.

(This post originally appeared in the April 12, 2007, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)